


A Hidden Flower

by WriterOfFates



Category: Batman (Comics), Batman - All Media Types
Genre: M/M
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2014-11-07
Updated: 2014-11-07
Packaged: 2018-02-24 10:36:25
Rating: Not Rated
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 1,458
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/2578502
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/WriterOfFates/pseuds/WriterOfFates
Summary: <blockquote class="userstuff">
              <p>Jay stumbles upon one of Gotham’s brightest secrets.</p>
            </blockquote>





	A Hidden Flower

Jason swore under his breath as he ran through the streets, dodging around pedestrians and carriages. He could hear the police shouting and blowing their whistles behind him as he ducked into an alley way. He wove through the maze of backstreets and squeezed through spaced between buildings too small to even be called pathways. But he could still hear them behind him, pointed in his direction by the disgruntled beggars he had leaped over.   
  
He gasped in air and stopped to scan his surroundings, looking for any possible escape.  
  
He spotted a high wall with just enough cracks to provide hand holds to a determined, or desperate, person.   
  
And Jason was both. All of his years of living on Gotham’s streets had forced him to develop all sorts of talents. Scaling buildings and walls was one of those, usually utilized to liberate precious gems from the vanities of Gotham’s upper crust citizens.   
Just as he reached the top and swung over to hang from the edge of the wall, he heard the police race into the alley way he had just disappeared from.   
  
“Which way?!”  
  
“Where did he go?!”  
  
“This way!!”  
  
He listened as they stomped off, waiting a few moments to make sure they were all gone before pulling himself back up to sit on the wall.  
  
He took a deep breath and looked about. Hidden behind the wall he’d climbed was a garden in full bloom. Now that he was listening for more than heaving boots on cobblestones, he could hear birds chirping and what must have been decorative fountains and waterfall.  
  
“Wow...” In the dim light of the gaslights from beyond the wall, he caught sight of a clearing past a thick ring of trees along the wall as far as he can see. He smelled food from somewhere close by and his stomach growled loudly, reminding him how long it had been since he had eaten.  
  
Cautiously, he dropped down, pausing to listen again before pushing his way through the trees and vines. He swore and cursed at the world in general as they caught at his hair and clothes and by the time he reached the clearing in which the apple tree stood, he was swearing and furious at everything, from the rich old lady who had kept her tiny little lap dog in the dressing room that Jason had been trying to clean out to whoever hired the damn gardeners that didn’t keep this jungle under control.   
  
As he entered the clearing, he spotted a flowering tree and he breathed in, his nose filling with the sweet scent. He looked up at the blossoms on the tree and sighed internally. Pretty as they were, they were useless to him so early in the season. He remembered seeing blossoms like this once when he was younger and had hung around the market places. A farmer who had taken a liking to him had brought it from his orchard once, telling Jay to give it to his mother. Apple blossoms. Nearly sickeningly sweet, now that Jason thought about it, but he remembered how she had smiled when he’d given them to her.   
  
But there were just blossoms. Nothing he could eat. He sighed.  
  
“Aren’t they pretty?”  
  
Jason let out a shriller scream than should have come from his large body and spun to see a person hanging upside down from a branch, the blossoms tucked into their short black hair, and pollen and pedals all over their clothes. Jay blinked, stunned momentarily by the captivating beauty and the overwhelming smell of flowers.  
  
“W-who are you?! Where did you come from?!” Jay backed away from the figure.   
  
They frowned and disappeared back up into the leaves, dropping down to the ground a moment later. “Shouldn’t I be asking you that? But I’m Dick. And I came from up in the tree.”  
  
“D-Dick?! You… you’re a guy?!” Jay looked the man up and down, suddenly seeing past his pretty face to see that the features were indeed masculine, although more aesthetically pleasing than any man Jason had ever seen. Not that you saw many attractive people of any gender in Gotham’s slums. Any beauty was stripped away by the grime and violence.   
  
“Yes, I am.” Dick tilted his head. “You are, too. Now that that’s cleared up…” He stepped towards Jay, who stepped back. “What’s wrong? I won’t hurt you…”   
  
“Like you could,” Jay snapped back.  
  
Dick’s laughter rang out like bells. “Of course I could. But why would I want to? You’re the first new face I’ve seen in a long time. Will you stay and talk with me?”   
  
Jay stared at him with suspicion. “You want me... to stay and talk with you.”   
  
“Yeah, why wouldn’t I?”   
  
Jay looked over Dick’s clothing, the materials rich under the pollen and the brilliant blue embroidery snaking across the black fabric under the flowers. Jay’s own clothes were simply rags sewn together, wearing thin in most places and smelling faintly of gun powder from the Colt tucked against his back under his beaten jacket. Even the dirt on Dick’s clothes looked cleaner than that on Jay’s, garden soil compared with street grime.   
  
“I was just about to eat, and I’d love company. No one comes here ever, really. And they never spend as much time as they should. I don’t get to just talk with anyone. Would you like to eat with me?”  
  
Jay immediately looked back up into his face. “You’ll give me food?”   
  
Dick laughed, “Of course! I always have too much for just myself anyways.” He beamed at Jay and walked towards him, his movements graceful and fluid. He took Jay’s hand and tugged him along, towards a large, flowering willow tree. Dick pushed aside the hanging branches like a curtain and Jay’s mouth watered as he saw the table set with piles of food, meat, bread, vegetables, all smelling fresh and full of spices. His eyes flickered to Dick as he walked towards the table, beaming up at the branches as a breeze sent some pedals floating down around him and Jay’s breath left him for a long moment.   
  
He shook his head to clear it. The sights and smells were overwhelming it, he told himself. And the fact that he’d never seen someone so handsome. He’d eat and then scram, and he’d be left with a pretty memory to mull over the next time he was hungry and miserable.   
  
He sat with Dick at the table and began digging in as Dick chattered away about this and that, and while Jay tried to follow the words, his mind drifted, letting the musical tone of Dick’s voice wind around his brain.   
  
Finally, he sat back, stuffed full for the first time in his memory. Dick beamed at him, “Was it good?”  
  
“Yeah, I suppose.”  
  
He giggled a bit and then rested his chin on his hands, his elbows propped against the table. “Are you going to leave now?”  
  
Jay glanced up at him. “I should probably be going...”  
  
“Of course...” Jay frowned, hearing a slight sad hint in the beautiful voice. “Could you... maybe come back... sometime...? I’ll make sure there’s food, of course, and if you don’t want to, there’s no need to worry or anything,” Dick rushes to add.  
  
Jay tucked his hands in his pockets, mulling it over, and his fingers brush against the jewels he’d shoved there in his hurry to make his botched robbery attempt somehow worthwhile. He pulled one brooch out slightly and glanced at it, then smiled a bit.   
  
“Yeah. I’ll come back.”  
  
Dick’s face lit up and Jay’s breath left him in a whoosh. “That’s... that’s wonderful!” He rushed around the table to pull Jay up out of his chair and throw his arms around him. Jay stiffened immediately and Dick stepped back, “Sorry, sorry. I’m quite physical, and I don’t get many chances to show affection. I got carried away... You... you’ll still come back...?”  
  
Jay blinked at him, then smiled back, “I will.” His hand tightened around the brooch then he held it out towards the other man. “Here.” Dick tilted his head but took it, looking it over. “You hold onto that for me. I’ll have to come back for it.”  
  
Dick stared down at the sapphires set in the shape of flower petals, set in bright silver, a smile spreading across his lips. “I’ll take good care of it.”  
  
“You better.” Jay grinned as well as he backed away. “I’ll... I’ll see you then...” He turned and trotted off, spotting a bit of a trail to take through the dense trees towards the wall. As he pushed past vines and bushes, he wondered briefly what he had gotten himself into.

**Author's Note:**

> This was a christmas exchange fic written last year for Vare, one of two I did last year.


End file.
